MIA

I padded down the stairs, sighing to myself, plodding into the kitchen and pulling out some ingredients from the refrigerator.

I had enjoyed cooking when I was younger, although I was never really any good at it. However, I needed to do something to distract myself, and I was sure that if I made enough food for everyone, they wouldn't be too dissatisfied that I had used their ingredients.

I grabbed a large knife out of one of the drawers, grimacing as I took in how shiny it was, the light reflecting off of it, creating luminous shapes to appear across the wall.

I gasped as the random small squares and circles suddenly conjoined together, morphing into the shape of a large human. Their angry blurred face glared at me, hatred evident, frightening me.

Turning away from the wall, I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of the sight, knowing that my mind was playing tricks on me, despite the fact that it had looked so real.

Grabbing a bag of tomatoes, I started to slice them finely on top of the wooden chopping board, slightly shaking at the thought of turning back around, fearful that the monster would be there to greet me once again. As I turned my head though, I saw nothing but the white wall staring back at me, looking as normal as ever.

"It's not real," I muttered to myself in relief, throwing my chopped tomatoes into a pan and turning on the stove, watching them bubble away, pouring some dried pasta into the pan next to it.

"What's not real?"

I yelped, clutching at my chest as I spun to see Caspian gazing at me worriedly from across the kitchen, his un-styled light brown hair sitting just above his furrowed brows.

He held his hands up defensively, his palms facing me. "Woah, woah, Mia, it's just me."

"I didn't hear you," I replied, attempting to catch my breath, gulping. I offered him a small smile, not wanting to appear rude.

Caspian ran his hands through his hair, rubbing at his eyes, dark circles surrounding them, giving them the appearance of being extremely sunken in and drowsy. His mouth was set in a firm line, and I noticed it was slightly down-turned, causing me to furrow my brows at him.

"You okay?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at me, cocking his head, chuckling slightly. I noticed how the small laugh didn't reach his eyes though.

"Oh, um, yeah, sorry," I replied, slightly embarrassed I had been caught studying him.

Caspian nodded slowly in response, gazing around the room awkwardly. "So, what are you doing? Cooking?"

I nodded, chewing at my lip, a little worried that he was about to lecture me on how I shouldn't have been using their produce without permission.

However, he smiled down at the chopping board coated with mushed up tomato skin and juice, the evidence making it obvious that I had butchered the poor innocent fruit.

"I thought tomato pasta would be nice. Would you like some?"

Caspian chuckled, taking a seat at the marble island in the middle of the kitchen, the chair scraping against the tiled floor. The sharp noise filled the awkward silence just for a moment, giving me some relief. "I've never said no to food before."

"I can't promise you it'll be any good."

"It can't be worse that anything Lily's made."

I laughed, turning back to the stove to stir the contents of the pots, aimlessly adding copious amounts of salt, pepper and chilli in an attempt to look like I knew what I was doing.

But, I felt a presence behind me, causing me to turn, the salt shaker still in my hand as it hovered above the pans.

"Let's maybe chill out with the seasoning," Caspian suggested, gently taking the salt shaker from me, setting it down on the counter, making me smile.

"Do you cook?" I questioned, causing Caspian to shrug modestly.

"I've dabbled," he replied, picking up a spoon and stirring the tomatoes, squashing them down as he did so, creating a sauce.

"Why don't you take over?" I asked, gesturing towards the stove. "You seem to know what you're doing more than I do."

I took a few steps back, enjoying watching Caspian get to work on saving my jumbled creation, finding it relaxing how he glided around the kitchen, clearly in his element. "This is very therapeutic."

Caspian hummed in agreement, throwing in his chopped onions and red peppers before slicing up a chicken breast, the raw fleshy meat causing me to grimace. "Speaking of that," he spoke, taking me off guard. "How did your first therapy session go?"

I blinked, unsure of how to answer him, averting eye contact.

"Excuse me if I overstepped a boundary, Mia," he said apologetically, causing me to shake my head. 

"No, don't worry Caspian. You didn't," I replied, sighing. "It wasn't great. I'm not used to talking to people about my problems, especially someone I've never met before. It's a little weird."

Caspian laughed, continuing to stir the contents of the pot, his back facing me which I was grateful for. I was unsure whether I would be able to speak to him openly on the subject with eye contact without ceasing up.

"Tell me about it. It can feel pretty awkward."

I raised my brows at his reply, my mouth opening before I could stop myself. "You've had therapy?"

I immediately felt self conscious, not wanting to come across as presumptuous or pushy, but just feeling relieved that someone else understood my thoughts and feelings. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me."

"No, it's okay, I need to talk about it," Caspian said, laughing, flicking off the stove and pouring the steaming hot food into two bowls, sliding one over to me along with a fork. "Eat up."

"Thank you," I said, diving in, my eyes widening at the flavour, thankful that Caspian had managed to save whatever mess I had made.

"So, yeah, Lorenzo tried to get me to do therapy for a while. He said it would help me, and it did, but it takes some getting used to," he said, his mouth full of pasta.

"Did it make whatever you were feeling go away?" I questioned, hoping that his reply would be an immediate 'yes'. However, I knew better. Trauma wasn't just something that disappeared overnight, and it was most likely something I was going to have to deal with for the rest of my life.

"I mean, the grief you feel when you lose a mate never really just goes away."

I stopped chewing, staring down at my bowl, guilt running through me.

"Therapy helped, but I'll always miss her. She was my everything. I probably look like crap too. I've been going through a rough patch lately," said Caspian quietly, running his hand down his face and sighing, taking another bite off of his fork.

"I'm sorry," I said, the thought of losing Lorenzo racing throughout my mind, causing me to instantly lose my appetite. Nausea bubbled up inside of me, my heart starting to race.

Lorenzo was the only thing that gave me hope and I knew without him, I would be lost.

All I wanted to do was be in his arms.

"What's it like? Without her?" I questioned, my eyes starting to well up.

"It's like," muttered Caspian, taking a deep breath. "With every breath I take, I'm suffocating."

LORENZO

"What the hell do you mean it's gone?" I growled, making my way further into the room.

"It's not here! None of it is!" exclaimed Lily, throwing her hands up into the air, shaking her head. "Only two people besides me knew the code to that safe, Lorenzo."

"Who?"

Lily swallowed, kicking at the wall in frustration, her foot hitting the crumbling wall, causing cracks to make their way up it, the ceiling rumbling above us.

I gazed up, my eyes wide as part of the ceiling collapsed beside us, landing in a heap on the floor by our feet. Dust wafted through the air and up our nostrils, making us splutter.

"Shit! We need to get out of here!" called Lily as more of the roof caved in, the walls disintegrating next to us, unable to hold up any longer.

"Run!" I yelled, grabbing Lily's hand and yanking her out of the room before the rubble crushed her, shifting into my large hazel wolf. My feet hit the cracked tiles as I ran, and I turned my head to see Lily doing the same, pushing herself to race faster through the falling corridor.

Dodging the flying debris, I leapt over piles of smashed equipment and glass, weaving in and out of the heaps. I nodded at my Beta next to me, ensuring she was still alright as we dashed towards the large front doors.

I skidded to a halt, narrowly missing a huge chunk of ceiling that came clattering down, bouncing against the walls as it did so, smashing them to shreds. However, as I stopped, the pillar beside me caved in, soaring down through the air, landing on my right shoulder harshly, causing me to growl in pain.

Lily whined at me from the entrance, her eyes wide as she watched me stumble backwards from the hit, taking a step back in in an attempt to come and help me. But, I growled warningly at her, forcing her to stop in her tracks, her ears flattening themselves.

Leaping over the heap of rubble and debris in front of me, I ignored the searing pain pulsating through my shoulder, making my way out of the building quickly, causing Lily to bark at me in relief.

I shifted, groaning to myself in pain as I fell to the floor on my knees, hearing the cracking of Lily's bones and ligaments, knowing she had done the same. Feeling her hand on my shoulder, I looked up, sighing, shaking my head.

"Your shoulder looks messed up," she said, hissing as blood trickled down my forearm, collecting in a thick puddle on the dead crispy grass.

"It'll heal," I groaned, clutching at it, lifting my head to see the remains of the lab collapsing in front of us. The sound of bricks hitting one another as they fell echoed throughout the clearing, dust from the debris sailing through the air calmly, signalling the worst was over.

The once large sturdy warehouse was now a pile of broken bricks and equipment, not a single wall or pillar remaining. I growled, feeling satisfaction that the prison that had once kept my mate captive had been destroyed, never to be used again.

After hearing the trunk of the jeep open, I turned to see Lily pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and I quickly averted my eyes, allowing them to settle on the ground before seeing a pair of black joggers land in front of me.

I pulled them on using one hand, attempting to ignore the pain coursing through my shoulder, sighing as a clothed Lily made her way over to me, her face grim.

"Melissa and Greg," she stated, causing me to furrow my brows.

"What?"

"Mellissa and Greg," she repeated, huffing. "They were the only two other people who knew the combination for the safe, Lorenzo."

•••

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